After a long-running stint on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its ornate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and disappointed critics who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A Master of Glitz
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his trademark look, outfitting everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a media outlet. “Today's artists are striving for a show-stopping, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across concert platforms in glitter, strategic openings and plumes, highlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Drawing from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also take inspiration from historical performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The results are worlds away from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
A Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the history of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of the City
She says the showgirl image are central to the iconography of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still used as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Escape
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the appeal. It’s something Taylor Swift references in a latest behind-the-scenes film that documents the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, workouts and numerous concerts across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could recover before I went on stage. One is sweating the whole time but creating this image that it’s easy and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always embodied make-believe, flawlessness and a world where no one makes a mistake.
